Ranking Member Raskin Leads Democrats in Legal Challenge Against Trump’s Attacks on DOJ Office that Combats Hate Crimes, Antisemitism, and Religious Violence
Amicus Brief Responds to Administration’s Lawless Attempt to Shutter DOJ’s Community Relations Service, Created by the Civil Rights Act to Help Communities Resolve Conflict and Violence
Washington, D.C. (December 5, 2025)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, led 90 House Democrats in opposing the Trump Administration’s lawless effort to eliminate the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Community Relations Service (CRS). In an amicus brief in Ethical Society of Police v. Bondi before the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, House Democrats stand up for Congress’s Article I power to create vital programs like CRS, which was established as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to help communities across the country resolve conflict and violence.
“Congress created DOJ’s Community Relations Service—not Attorney General Bondi or Kash Patel. For more than six decades, Congress has funded and supported the agency and its vital peacemaking mission. Trump and Bondi do not have the authority to dismantle it by executive fiat, and their effort to do is a blatant violation of law and usurpation of congressional authority,” said Ranking Member Raskin. “I’m proud to lead this coalition of House Democrats who are standing up for this agency created to combat hate crimes, antisemitism, and religious violence, and empower American communities to peacefully resolve conflicts. Its work is more relevant and urgent than ever.”
For over sixty years, CRS has served as “America’s Peacemaker”—deploying conciliators to Selma after Bloody Sunday, de-escalating tensions around the Nazi march in Skokie, and helping communities heal after attacks on houses of worship and hate crimes. Congress has repeatedly affirmed and extended CRS’s statutory mission with broad bipartisan support, but the Trump Administration is now trying to decimate the CRS. The Administration’s dismantling of the peace-preserving agency comes as the nation faces a sharp rise in hate crimes, antisemitic attacks, and political violence.
The full brief is available HERE.
For more information on House Democrats efforts to protect Americans against the unlawful actions of the Trump Administration, visit litigationandresponse.house.gov.